Armageddon Now or Later

Many have held their breath since penultimate week when the US, Britain and France bombed facilities allegedly housing chemical weapons in Syria, and Russia promised there would be consequences for that action. I too have been restless, for I’ve not forgotten a remark Ronald Reagan once made about “that evil empire” or the Bible prophecy concerning Armageddon that would precede the end of the world. Great events and religions have often taken their roots from the Middle East!

All seems quiet on the Russian front. Maybe reason has triumphed over conspiracy. I pray it does, for this planet Earth can’t afford to host World War III in the age of nuclear technology and cyber-warfare. I wish America and Russia could sit at table and decide to end the Syrian war as soon as possible. North Korea and South Korea have stretched hands of friendship, just as North Korea and the US are no longer talking tough. That’s how it should be.

About this time, a century ago, World War I was still raging. About this time in 1945, World War II was coming to an end, with Hitler holed up in the bunker and about to commit suicide along with his mistress; Mussolini and his wife had been arrested and executed by commoners. The scale of destruction wrought by World War II [at least 80million killed] ought to remind us of the danger of every war and the sheer madness of starting another world war.

In Nigeria, Armageddon seems very close. Once you stepped into the country, everything and everyone would appear to be trying to kill you! Outside the country, I could imagine outside forces trying to achieve their aim of breaking Nigeria. They had set the target for 2015. Sponsored terrorist group Boko Haram has now transformed to “cattle herders” in the middle belt and the south of the country.

Next on the group’s agenda, I guess, is to cause a religious war – a war that has no end – by murdering Catholic priests along with 17 worshippers during a morning Mass in Benue State last week. There has been a reprisal attack on a mosque and Muslims in Makurdi, the state capital. This Sunday morning, churches throughout Nigeria were expected to mourn and protest the martyring of the reverend fathers and the worshippers.

Almost eight years ago, I wrote that “evil seems to be winning” in Nigeria and the world. It’s hard to admit it has won already. Or hasn’t it?

I said then and I repeat it now: Evil is taking over the world and spreading blood, sorrow and tears in the process. Today, we breathe corruption, drink corruption and eat corruption while some people falsely claim they are fighting corruption. Our lust for money is only beginning to bare its fangs.

Whenever “terror” is mentioned, especially since after September 11, 2001, the mind often goes to the activities of fundamentalists attacking American interests. But look down. Your brother next door could be a victim of terror in the next minute. Or how do you describe armed robbers, pen robbers, 419 fraudsters, abortionists, ritual murderers, Boko Haram, rapists, kidnappers, political thugs and arsonists that fill our world today?

There is hardly any evil that has not been associated with leaders and followers alike. In Africa I disregard tales about missing manhood, cult-induced accidents and the like. But I once witnessed the arrest of a “trader” found with a young woman’s eyes in Lagos. She was lured into an uncompleted building and drugged before the hoodlums plucked her eyes off. The eyes were to be sold to a ritual killer for N500, 000.

In a former neighbourhood, I once heard how a motorcyclist who was paid to take somebody’s children to school diverted them to a shrine. When he was eventually caught and tortured to confess his crime, he took policemen to the shrine. They reached there too late: the three children had been beheaded. Their mother collapsed and died a few hours later.

For too long, the leadership of the world has been dominated by cultists. And that is probably why some African nations have become hell on earth in spite of all the resources the continent has been blessed with.

In Nigeria, the membership of occult groups reflects the federal character. It is when they come out of their dens and covens that they use tribes and tongues to deceive the uninformed. It looks as if they strive to occupy certain strategic positions – in the judiciary, legislature and executive – and to perpetually keep non-members away.

Fighting and defeating occult people in elections could be very difficult: they hold the cash; they rig elections for their members; many are the judges to which election petitions are sent. I no longer doubt that many political offices in most nations of the world are shared, ahead of election days, in the temples of secret cults to which many rich and influential people belong. But for the prayers of the few truly pious people, maybe Satan himself would have long established his headquarters here.

Evil knows no tribe, religion, nation or class. Those who perpetrate it in order to acquire money or power could be found in all strata of society, in every religion and in every ethnic group. Terrorism, kidnapping and armed robbery are manifestations of the great wickedness that is taking over our land.

But there are other pointers to evil that we often overlook: Murder is evidence of great wickedness. And when someone who is not remorseful after killing someone else gets into public office, you don’t expect him to repent. He would fear no evil. He could embezzle a billion dollars to make even more people die. Another pointer: anyone who doesn’t profess any religion should be avoided like a plague. She does not fear God or any other god.

In the words of a chieftain of a Nigerian political party in 2014, “let’s stop agonising and start organising”. Evil thrives only when good people choose to do nothing. All the criminals in our midst are known. We have allowed them to thrive over the years, and now they seem to be winning. Because they have gained ground, only a brutal war can dislodge them.

The war I recommend is not Armageddon or a war between two superpowers. It is a war between good people and evil people in every nation. If the former knew their strength, they would annihilate the latter within a few days of worldwide confrontation.